Book Giveaway

June 18, 2014

Up to my ears in . . .

We've been getting more rain (2.5" in the last 2 weeks), and the garden is flourishing--for the first time since 2011, when the drought began to seriously dig in.The photo: an Edisto melon, a small heritage cantaloupe that does well in hot, humid climates (that's us). Up to my ears in cucumbers, squash, and (soon) tomatoes. I picked green beans this morning, for dinner tonight. You can't ask for a fresher veggie than that.

Book report. I'm also up to my ears in the 2015 Dahlias mystery: The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady. These are Ornithogalum umbellatum, but I couldn't very well use that as a title, could I? They're small plants that bloom until the sun gets too hot for them. I'm sure you've seen them popping up out of the grass. Love finding interesting titles that prompt me to grow the plot around them (hope that makes as much sense to you as it does to me).

This book (Dahlias #6, set in mid-1934) is also about the Civilian Conservation Corps projects that FDR began putting in place in 1933, among his first presidential actions. Good move on his part, on all scores, politically, environmentally, economically, with a huge impact on the men (mostly--there was a related project for women) who participated, their families, and their communities. This interesting history is making its way into the book, and creating more plot elements. Love it when this happens! It allows me to come to work every morning, thinking "I wonder what's going to happen in the book today?"

A Wilder Rosegarnered a wonderful review yesterday, in the official blog of the Wilder historic home in De Smet. I'll have more news about that book later this week, maybe. Good news.

More books in the works: In April-May, I visited the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library and spent days doing research in the papers of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok. I'm looking forward to more work on that project after I've finished the current Dahlias mystery.

And I've just signed the contract for three more China Bayles mysteries! Working titles: A Malted Murder (2016), Dragon's Blood (2017), and The Last Chance Olive Ranch (2018). It's lovely to be able to look ahead and see good work on the horizon, and I'm grateful to the editors, publishers, and readers (yes, that's you!) who have made it possible for me to live the writing life I began dreaming of thirty-plus years ago.

Comments

Up to my ears in . . .

We've been getting more rain (2.5" in the last 2 weeks), and the garden is flourishing--for the first time since 2011, when the drought began to seriously dig in.The photo: an Edisto melon, a small heritage cantaloupe that does well in hot, humid climates (that's us). Up to my ears in cucumbers, squash, and (soon) tomatoes. I picked green beans this morning, for dinner tonight. You can't ask for a fresher veggie than that.

Book report. I'm also up to my ears in the 2015 Dahlias mystery: The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady. These are Ornithogalum umbellatum, but I couldn't very well use that as a title, could I? They're small plants that bloom until the sun gets too hot for them. I'm sure you've seen them popping up out of the grass. Love finding interesting titles that prompt me to grow the plot around them (hope that makes as much sense to you as it does to me).

This book (Dahlias #6, set in mid-1934) is also about the Civilian Conservation Corps projects that FDR began putting in place in 1933, among his first presidential actions. Good move on his part, on all scores, politically, environmentally, economically, with a huge impact on the men (mostly--there was a related project for women) who participated, their families, and their communities. This interesting history is making its way into the book, and creating more plot elements. Love it when this happens! It allows me to come to work every morning, thinking "I wonder what's going to happen in the book today?"

A Wilder Rosegarnered a wonderful review yesterday, in the official blog of the Wilder historic home in De Smet. I'll have more news about that book later this week, maybe. Good news.

More books in the works: In April-May, I visited the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library and spent days doing research in the papers of Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok. I'm looking forward to more work on that project after I've finished the current Dahlias mystery.

And I've just signed the contract for three more China Bayles mysteries! Working titles: A Malted Murder (2016), Dragon's Blood (2017), and The Last Chance Olive Ranch (2018). It's lovely to be able to look ahead and see good work on the horizon, and I'm grateful to the editors, publishers, and readers (yes, that's you!) who have made it possible for me to live the writing life I began dreaming of thirty-plus years ago.